Electric push-button



(-Nq Model.)

B. P. REX. 'ELEGTRIG. PUSHv BUTTON.

No. 506,729. Patented Oct. 17, 1893.

UNITED STATES PATENT @nnrcn.

BENJAMIN F. REX, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

ELECTR |C PUSH-BUTTON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 506,729, dated October 17, 1893. Application filed February 16, 1893. Serial No. 462,608. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. REX, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Electric Annunciators, of which the following 1s a specification.

My invention relates to electric an'nunciators, in which the circuit is completed and a bell caused to ring, or other signal given, by pressing a button. Where such annunciators are used, it is often difficult to find the button in the dark, and this is particularly true where they are used as door bells, and the users are strangers.

To enable the button to bereadily found in the dark is the object of my invention. I attain that object by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings,in which- Figure 1 is a vertical cross section of that part of the annunciator to which myimprovement relates, along the line 11, Fig. 2. Fig. 2. is avertical cross section along the line 2-,2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3. is a horizontal cross section of the form of base shown in Figs. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7, along the line 3-3, Fig. 2. Fig. 4. is a view in perspective, of the case for the button. Fig. 5. is a view in perspective of the base, to which the button is, in one form of my improvement, attached when in use. Fig. 6. is a view of the button, and of the base, placed in position to receive it. Fig. 7. is a side elevation of the button and base, showing a'perforated guard in cross section. Fig. 8. is a view analogous in part to Fig. 2, showing a modification in vertical cross section.

Similarletters referto similar parts throughout the several views.

A (Figs. 1, 2, and 3) represents the case for the button.

a. is the top of the case. It is shown screw threaded around its inner edge near the bottom. a is an opening in the top of the case, through which the button may project. a is a shoulder. a is the base of the case. a is a screw-threaded shoulder, over which thetop of the case fits. eta a a a are openings in the base (a for the passage of conductors. Anyother convenient device for attaching the top to the base of the case may be substituted for the one shown. I consider the other wellknown methods the equivalent of the one described. All that is necessary is that the top should be detachable.

B (Figs. 1, 2, 6, 7 and 8) is a hollow airtight button formed in whole, or in part, of a substance through which light can pass to some extent, from the interior of the button to the outside.

I) (Figs. 2 and 6) is a partof the button, designed in one form shown, to fit into a socket.

b (Figs. 1, 2, 6 and 8) is a conductor placed in the hollow of the button, and designed to be rendered incandescent by means of the passage of a current of electricity through it. It should be of a size and substance suitable for use in an incandescent lamp of the size and desired illuminating power of the button. As the object of the light in the interior of the button is to attract attention to the button, and enable it to be found in the dark, and not to illuminateexterior objects, the illuminating power of the conductor, when rendered incandescent, may, if desired, be very small.

I use the word incandescent throughout this specification and my claims as including within its meaning any degree of heat sufficing to produce light, as, for instance, a red as well as a white heat. The method of attaching the filament, or conductor, intended to be rendered incandescent, to the conductors connected therewith, and intended to at ford passage to and from it for electricity, is not shown. Any one familiar with the art of making incandescent electric lamps will understand how to make a proper connection. The conductor to be rendered incandescent should be prevented from wasting either by by exhausted sut'ficiently exhausted for the purpose.

b 5 (Figs. and6) are contact pins connected electrically with the conductor bin one form of my device. They are shown pointed 22o outer ends, and provided with grooves B (Figs. 1, 2, 5, 6 and '7) is abase to which the button is, in the form shown in said figures, designed to be attached. I prefer to constructitot' aninsulating material. Where it is not so constructed, the conductors should be properly insulated. In the form shown in Fig. 8, the base is a part of the button.

6 (Fig. 5) is a socket in which the button rests. In the drawings it is shown unnecessarily deep. Where a guard is used over the button, as shown in Fig. 7, the outside of the socket (19 may be screw-threaded and the guard screwed over it, or attached in any other convenient method.

19 (Figs. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 8) is atlange designed to rest against the shoulder, a of the case A, and act as a stop to prevent outward movement beyond a desired point. I prefer to use some form of stop, but a stop maybe dispensed with Where the button is directly or indirectly attached to a spring so arranged as to prevent the escape and loss of the button.

12 b (Fig. 6) are holes in the bottom of the socket b through which the contact pins, when used, are intended to pass.

I)", b (Figs. 2 and 3) are contact springs designed to convey the current to and from said contact pins, and also to tend to keep the button in place by entering said grooves (b 12 in said pins. 19 b are conductors connected with said contact springs, 12", 19 .One of said conductors should connect with, or lead to, a source of electricity, or electrical energy, and the other should be grounded, or act as or connect with a return wire or conductor. Electricity may be turned on and off by means of a suitable switch, located in a convenient place. 19 6 (Figs. 2 and 3) are binding screws, by which said springs (19 b and said conductors connected therewith, are attached to the base 13.

b (Fig. 7) is a guard surrounding the button. It is shown perforated. Where it is formed of a transparent substance, the perforations are unnecessary, unless the light is so feeble as to be invisible through it. I use the word transparent throughout this specification, and my claims, as including translucent, as well as perfectly transparent, within its meaning. The guard b is not essential, but may be used, if desired.

In the modification shown in Fig. 8, the contact pins b b and contact springs b, b", are dispensed with, and a simpler and less expensive construction adopted. No separate base for the button is used in this form, and the filament intended to emit the desired light is connected with conductors, one of which is connected with a source of electricity, and the other with a gounded, or return conductor.

Where I speak of conductors being connected, I do not desire to be confined to any special form of connection. I mean by 0011- nected, so related that electricity may pass from one to the other in the desired manner.

The method of making the connection shown in the drawings (Fig. 8) is by meansof flexible conductors (1), 1)) connected with said filament or conductor 1), and leading to binding posts Z9 Z9 Said conductors, by reason of their flexibility, permit of the reciprocation of said button.

In Fig. 8, a flange 13 answering to the flange or stop 19 of the separable base B is shown. The function of the flange, being merely that of a stop, it is obvious that it is not necessary that it should extend entirely around the button as a simple projection would answer the purpose, though less perfectly. There are other obvious equivalents, which would allow of inward movement, but prevent the button from moving outward beyond the desired point 5 and, as has been stated, the stop, though desirable, is not absolutely essential.

O is a spring shown attached to the base a of the case A. The button B rests on or against this spring, directly or indirectly and where the spring is relied upon to prevent the escape of the button from its case, it is attached to, or connected with it, in any convenient manner.

0 is a contact point, which, in the form of device shown is a part of the spring which itself acts as a conductor. It may,however, be separate from the spring and supplied with a separate conductor, without departing from myinvention; though it should be so arranged that it maybe forced into contact by pressure on the button.

0' is a contact connected with a conductor leading either toa source of electricity, or the signaling apparatus.

Where 0 is connected with the source of electricity, 0' should be connected with a grounded or return conductor, and vice versa. Pressure upon the button B compresses the spring 0, and by bringing a and 0 into contact makes the circuit. When the pressure is removed, the circuit is broken by the action of the spring 0, which separates c and c.

)Vhere the form of device shown in Figs. 1 to 7 is used, the button may be placed in po sition by merely slipping it into its socket and pressing it into place. It may be detached by unscrewing the top of the case, and pushing it out by pressure against the ends of the pins b 5 When the form shown in Fig. 8 is used,it maybe allowed to rest on or against the spring 0, and removed after the top a is unfastened, by merely loosening the binding posts Z2 Z9 What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of a hollow, air-tight annunciator button, having the air exhausted from its interior, formed in whole or in part of a transparent substance, and containing a conductor suitable for use in an incandescent electric lamp, connected with conductors in whole or in part outside of said button, and

a spring compressible by pressure upon said compressible by pressure on said button, and

two contact parts which make a circuit when brought together, and which may be forced together by pressure on said button, and which are separated when the pressure is removed. v

3. The combination of a case with a hollow air-tight annunciator button, having the air exhausted from its interior, formed in whole or in part of a transparent substance, and containing a conductor suitable for use 1n an incandescent lamp, and which may be rendered incandescent by the passage of a current of electricity, a stop attached to said button to prevent its escaping from the case, and a spring pressing said button outward,

4. The combination of the case A, button B containing the filament b, the spring and contacts 0 and c, substantially as descrlbed.

5. In combination with the transparent push button B containing a lighting medium, a perforated guard over the same, substantially as described.

BENJAMIN F. REX.

Witnesses:

CHAS. D. MooDY, A. BONVILLE. 

